Kegon Waterfalls (華厳滝)

Wow… it has been a really long time since I've graced your presence with my exquisite writing. Be still your beating heart. And this post isn't even about a temple! I know, I know, I've really outdone myself this time.

I'm here to talk with you about one of the waterfalls in Nikko, called Kegon Waterfalls. Kegon Waterfalls are among the more famous of the waterfalls in Japan. The water falls from 97 meters (318 feet for us Americans). This last paragraph read like a 4th grader's geography essay.

On to the best part… the haunted history! Legend has it that it became a popular spot for suicide after an 18 year old boy (Misao Fujimura) leapt to his death in 1903. He apparently wrote a farewell poem on a tree just before his death, which I have rewritten for you below:

"How mightily and steadily go Heaven and Earth! How infinite the duration of Past and Present! Try to measure this vastness with five feet? A Word explains the truth of the whole Universe - unknowable. To cure my agony, I have decided to die. Now, as I stand on the crest of this rock no uneasiness is left in me. For the first time I know that extreme pessimism and extreme optimism are one."

Romantic. It also must have taken a long time to carve that into a tree. At any rate, the falls have now become a famous place for the Romeo and Juliets of the world -- thankfully I saw no suicidal lovers when I was there.

Time for the photos!

Around that area was also a lake (Lake Chuzenji)… the weather was so insane that it honestly looked more like a bay of an ocean.

The. End.